Sir, Over the summer we have seen tributes paid to the brave men who took part in the invasion of Europe following D-Day 60 years ago. Yet, as the author of a new book, 'Burma: The Forgotten War', published by John Murray on October 11, I was gripped by a feeling of 'what about the boys in the Far East, who remembers them?' What a contrast were those remembrances, splashed all over the newspapers and television, with those of Welshmen who served in Burma. When news of D-Day reached Lieutenant John Hudson fighting at Imphal in 1944, he noted: 'Press reporters never reached our besieged positions and any stories that were printed, after heavy censorship, were bland, late and inaccurate... We were important to our own kinsfolk and nobody else, but when a bullet struck home we were just as dead as the lads in Europe, and we were glad they could not see the conditions we had to endure. It is no surprise the men who served in 14th Army refer to themselves as the 'Forgotten Army'. This year coincides with the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the campaign to reconquer Burma which saw 14th Army triumphant over a dangerous and implacable enemy. My new book illustrates the experiences of thousands of ordinary people whose lives were caught up and transformed by this south-east Asian maelstrom, many of whom feel that like 14th Army - they were forgotten. And with fewer and fewer veterans with us each year, it surely behoves us to remember the sacrifices made by so many Welshmen who served their country selflessly. They, too, deserve to be remembered.
Jon Latimer, 3 Hall Terrace, Ferryside.